"jst" wrote in message news:ffkuf.1496$Dh.670@dukeread04...
Jim Ley wrote:
On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 17:37:12 -0600, jst wrote:

Our family of three( 2 adults & 17 y/o )are considering a trip to Europe
this summer. We would want to spend at least 2-3 days in London then 5-7
days going from France ( Paris a must ) to Switzerland ( the alps ). We
have traveled the states extensively and have never been overseas.Is
this the type of trip that we should do exclusively with a travel agency
and do the group tour bit. We have never been the types to do a group
tour but would do one if we could find the right locations included.
We are just starting to look into this and any recommendations would be
appreciated. We are budgeting 10 - 15 thousand , is this reasonable ???

You can easily organise this yourself, London is obviously completely
trivial for you, you speak English, and we're very used to American
tourists, and the same with Paris of course.

First step is to find a flight - open jaw Your place to London /
Geneva, you should be able to get this for under 1500 USD each
(depending on where you are in the US which I'm assuming). Hopefully
well under, but that would depend a bit where you are and when you're
travelling.

Then it's find a hotel, there are loads in all budgets from a
travellodge in London for 150 dollars that would sleep all 3 of you,
to top of the range hotels that would probably blow your budget in a
day. I'd say 300 dollars a day would get you and partner and your
daughter seperate average rooms in London or Paris. Travel between
London and Paris and Geneva (say) would cost another 200 ish dollars
each. So that's 8100 for your basic travel and living, at 10 days you
then
have somewhere between 190 and 750 dollars a day to spend on food and
entertainment - that's lots!

There's lots of sites on the web for looking at hotels, and look at
the archive for the group for specific recommendations or places to
avoid in London and Paris - but remember these are 2 of the most
touristed places in the world, you'd have to be extremely naiive not
to be able to get around yourself!

Jim.
We are definitely the adventurous type of family and have found our best
vacations in the states off of the beaten path. That is one of the reasons
why I am here on this group. The thought of being with a hundred other
people with different ideas on what to see is scary to me. Just the few
responses here have given me new insight on the trip. Since it is Europe
( NEW )it is a little intimidating at first. I figure that we can take the
Chunnel to Paris and would you guys suggest trains for the rest of the
trip?

Absolutely, but don't call it the Chunnel.

If you're not concerned with cost, and feel better having confirmed
reservations, you can book train tickets on line from the U.S. They'll cost
more, though, than what you can do in Europe.

Also, when booking train tickets, there are actually two components -- the
ticket gets you on board the train, but you will need a separate,
additional-cost seat reservation if you want to guarantee a seat. If you're
travelling in summer, I'd recommend doing this -- if it's off-season, you
can almost always buy a ticket at the station when you want to travel and
dispense with the seat reservation, as there are plenty of open seats. If
you don't get a seat reservation, when you board, just look for a seat that
doesn't have a name above the seat number.

Finally, bear in mind that Europeans travel a lot lighter than Americans, so
trains aren't designed for dragging around lots of big suitcases. You'll
have to manage them up and down the train steps yourself. Also, many
European train stations require that you ascend or descend stairs to reach
the platforms.

All stations have maps of each train. When you get to the platform, find
the maps, identify your train number, then look at the car layout -- it will
tell you where on the platform you'll be able to board your car.

If your bag is small enough, it may fit on the rack above the seat (they
accomodate bigger bags than airline carryons). Otherwise, you'll have to
leave your bag at the end of the car in the common baggage area. If you do
so, keep an eye on your bags -- luggage theft, though not common, is not
unheard of. I carry a small, light, flexible bike chain that lets me chain
my bags together.